The fire started sometime after 2 p.m. at the Newport Apartments in the 5200 block of West Loop 250, officials said. A 911 call came from a passerby who reported smoke coming from the building and trucks with the Midland Fire Department were dispatched to the scene around 2:30, according to MFD Battalion Chief Ken Whitting.

He said the fire started on the second-floor of the complex in a two-bedroom apartment. By the time firefighters arrived at the scene, it had spread outside to the entry hallway, into the attic and the apartment next door, where it damaged the front part of the home.

No one was injured during the fire. Neither the tenant in whose home the fire started nor the neighbor was at home at the time of the incident.

George Robinette, who lives next door to the building where the fire started, lost part of his couch, treadmill and some clothing when the blaze spread across the hall and into his living room.

He shares the apartment with his girlfriend Kendall Jackson and their 2-year-old son.

None of the family members were at home during the fire; the couple's son was staying with family and Robinette and Jackson were at the Hollywood 14 movie theater across the highway at the time of the fire.

After coming home from the theater, Robinette said they saw the fire trucks and that part of the road was blocked off.

"I even made a joke," he said. "As we pulled into the lot, I said, 'I bet it's our building.'"

When the couple arrived home around 3:40 p.m., firefighters already had extinguished the flames. They immediately called a few of their friends to help them move their furniture out of the building.

Robinette said they will stay with family members in Midland while they look for a new apartment to rent.

The tenant in whose apartment the fire started, who other tenants at the complex said was the maintenance employee for the property, was not available for contact at press time.

The two second-floor buildings were the only ones damaged during the fire, Whitting said. The two downstairs rentals suffered from mild smoke damage.

The cause of the fire was unknown late Sunday and the incident remained under investigation.